Read Universityby Bentley Little Online

Jim Parker, editor of UC Brea's newspaper, did not want to come back to school this semester. He should have listened to himself. Because Something Evil has invaded the California campus once praised for its high honors. Now violent death is crowding out pep rallies for space on the front page...and leaving streaks of bloody ink in its wake. Faith Pullen was wary of takingJim Parker, editor of UC Brea's newspaper, did not want to come back to school this semester. He should have listened to himself. Because Something Evil has invaded the California campus once praised for its high honors. Now violent death is crowding out pep rallies for space on the front page...and leaving streaks of bloody ink in its wake. Faith Pullen was wary of taking the job at the library. She should have listened to herself. Because Something Evil is lurking in the stacks - and setting its sights on the entire campus. N one knows who started this bloody epidemic, but a terrifying question remains in the minds of all: Who in the hell can stop it??...

Title

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University

Author

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Bentley Little

Rating

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ISBN

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9780451183903

Format Type

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Paperback

Number of Pages

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416 Pages

Status

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Available For Download

Last checked

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21 Minutes ago!

University Reviews

mark monday2019-01-20 15:41

Bentley Little: subverter of iconic institutions. while other authors with equally prolific tendencies are often content to jump from creature to creature, Little not only re-visits both well-known and more obscure threats (in addition to haunted houses and vampires, his topics include maenads and an invisible man)... but he will often make a point of satirically locating many of his horrors in the most everyday of places. other subversions have included department stores, resorts, the postal service, and the insurance industry. this book's banal locus of evil is Higher Education.University posits a reality where universities are actually sentient beings, with each student and staff member acting as just one cell of a greater organism. unfortunately for the novel's cast, the particular organism that they're a part of is deeply psychotic. the idea is an interesting one and creates many democratic opportunities for both horror and irony, as the mindlessly reactionary, the complacently liberal, the tediously conformist, and the superficially rebellious are all enjoyably skewered throughout the novel. characterizations are shallow but sympathetic and the narrative is built on a sometimes too-wide canvas. as always with the author, sex - whether as an act of love, lust, or horror - is presented in such a matter-of-fact way (far removed from the gloating, juvenile lasciviousness of Edward Lee or Richard Laymon), that the act itself carries about as much mystery and complexity as eating or sleeping. it is a surprising and refreshing point of view, particularly given the conspicuously high amount of sex present throughout the author's works. overall, another worthy entry in the author's on-going mission: Take Down The Establishment, One Institution At A Time. go get 'em, Bentley!

Melki2019-01-21 15:50

We have to kill the university. Before it kills us.Bentley Little seems to be a beloved author among horror fans, though this book left me scratching my head as to why. Early on, one of the characters mentions that it's possible to become inured to violence and horror. Then Little sets out to prove it by cranking out scene after scene of vile activity for no other reason than to shock and titillate. Something happens on almost every page - in addition to orgies on the lawn, we have a professor who invites his party guests to partake of his amazingly flexible wife's charms, a couple swims in a pool of blood, there are race riots, murders, suicides, and I lost count of all the rapes . . . There's so much that indeed!, I did become inured. And bored. Yup - another page, another atrocity. By the time we get to the author's BIG AWFUL THING - (view spoiler)[unspeakable doings at a day care center (hide spoiler)] - I was saying, "Yeah. Whatever. Let's just get this over with." It's really hard to be moved by and concerned about someone's death when that character was introduced only a few sentences earlier. Say "Hi!" to Betsy everyone! And now we're removing her skin. Seriously. The whole book is like that. There's not a lot of rhyme or reason here. On the one hand, you've got the university inside the heads of kids who are already unstable, making them do all sorts of disgusting things to and with their fellow students. Then you've also got killer vines and attacking squirrels. Uh-huh.Squirrels. It's a shame, because there are some genuinely creepy moments to be had. If Little had chosen suspense over gore (and gotten rid of the marauding squirrels), who knows what kind of book this might have been.I was curious enough to want to see how it ended - (view spoiler)[It's the equivalent of everyone joining hands and singing Kumbaya + explosives (hide spoiler)], and that's the only reason it gets two stars instead of one. The good thing about reading a book like this is that it will make the next one seem that much better. Plus, no dogs were raped. So, there's that.I guess.

Autumn2018-12-29 16:55

I read a short story collection of Little's recently and though I found them less than well-written, I thought I would give one of his novels a try. I was not impressed. It seems Little relies almost entirely on shock value to disturb readers. I'm not the sort of person who is easily disturbed, and I will admit this subject matter did not disturb me (I've read worse in accounts of actual crimes) - that is not where my problems lie. What was disturbing, however, was that it seemed to me that this novel was a series of vignettes intended to make the reader squirm and think how disgusting or awful or perverse it was. All I could think was that there were more of these various 'shocking' scenarios than there was of the story - and they weren't even that shocking to me, so my hopes for a well-structured novel were dashed by the time I was a quarter of the way through the book.I realize horror stories are a lot about shock, but I thought this was trying too hard. If Little wanted to disturb his readers, he could write better instead of writing about yet another (view spoiler)[brutal sexual assault. After about the third time I read about a rape (not that far into the book), (hide spoiler)] I didn't even consider it a relevant part of the story: it was just frustrating. The characters were shallow, two-dimensional people that seemed all too aware of their own existence as stereotypes (view spoiler)[(the well-meaning-but-sometimes-an-asshole-and-also-forgetful-professor! the very-smart-guy-who-knows-immediately-what's-going-on-and-tells-the-reader-all-too-early! the really-nice-girl-who-is-never-unreasonable-and-will-later-help-save-the-day!) (hide spoiler)], and yet not self-aware in the way that can be rather amusing instead of incredibly annoying. The dialogue was mediocre at best. I consider character dialogue good if I can tell who is speaking without reading their name. The problem here was that every character sounded the same, with the exception of an extremely minor character late in the book - and only because he used a few foreign phrases.The writing itself (grammatically and otherwise) was not very good - this I can forgive, but only for the simple reasons that I did not expect it to be and that after a point the lack of involvement in the plot was more worrying than the lack of respect Little gives to proper grammar.I brought this home from the library for light reading, but even as extremely light reading goes, this was not worthwhile.

DJMikeG2019-01-20 16:38

I'm a big fan of Bentley Little, but I really did not like this book. It isn't suspenseful or scary or smart or funny, unlike many of his other books. I remain a fan, and I know that his stuff is really love it or hate it, and I happened to hate this one. I'll continue to read him, but this book stunk.

William2018-12-25 13:29

3 1/2 starsWithout doubt the craziest book i have ever read and i have read a lot of Bentley Little.I'm serious there are parts of this book once read you can't unread.LOL!!!I did enjoy it though and will definitely be reading more of him.

Jenn2019-01-15 14:51

I like Bentley Little. He's a good horror writer. But I didn't like this one. Excessive use of violent rapes doesn't make for a good book. I get that a lot of older horror had sex themes. I get that the same older horror was written for little 16 year old boys who never leave their basements. This just didn't cut it for me and I was rather disappointed.

Erin ☕ *Proud Book Hoarder*2019-01-04 15:43

Bentley Little does it yet again with University...although unfortunately there are more flaws here than some of his other works.Two students going to a college begin trapped in a desperate struggle to unwrap a mystery that's killing their fellow students and threatening their existence. I don't wish to give away more of the plot than that, as it may put a hamper on the story if you read it yourself.The atmosphere is cold, dark, and depressing. Brutality is evident all around, and Little does not play around with subtlety's. Jim Parker is a great character. He's three dimensional and focused. It was interesting for me, an adult woman, to see through the eyes of a college student male. He appeared stable and reacted the way I figured most would. His life was interesting and that made it even more fun. He had his own classic sets of internal struggles.Faith Pullen's life comes off a bit harsher but she has that strong sense of self that I admire. She's enjoyable to read about because, not only does she come across as genuine, she comes across as a survivor. Yucky about her mom and what the woman does with sodas!The pace wasn't boring or uneven and it came across as well orchestrated overall. Again Bentley Little is dark. Except this time he's a bit too unbalanced for my tastes. Some the gore was a bit too excessive, the violence a little unnecessary -- to where they became the focal points more than the story itself.University is worth a read but it's nothing as shattering as his other works. Many books leave a taste in my mouth when they are unpleasant -- and usually this is a good aftertaste. This one, however, didn't agree with my taste buds as well. It just came across a little too senseless and exploitative, not concentrating as much on story and shock factor.

Holly2018-12-30 15:36

A typical formulaic Bentley Little. A powerful entity has grown out of control and over-the-top bad weirdness and bloody mayhem ensue.......blah blah blah. A person should only read one Bentley Little book every five years to avoid redundancy.My reason for reading this book was phenomena going on at a nearby university town. It is thankfully on the other side of our county line and there is a twenty mile buffer zone between here and there......but there just seems to be way too much violent crime in that community. For instance, our county just saw it's third murder in the last fifty years........the nearby university town can have 3 murders in six months. I also once did a comparison of statistics.....the University of Michigan is four times the size of our local, and had 0 murders in Ann Arbor during the same time frame in which our local university town had 5 murders. Interesting, too, because the locals are aware of it (they get all touchy if you bring it up) but prefer to pretend it isn't happening in their community. I doubt that Bentley Little's solution is applicable, but still, you never know.

Alice2019-01-05 09:32

This is, hands down, the worst book I have ever read. I am definitely no prude, and no stranger to horror fiction, but I found the graphic sexual violence in this book excessive and disturbing. And the plot devolved into sheer stupidity. I have had this book on the shelf for several years and recently discovered it. I should have left it on the shelf or donated it to the library. Bentley Little is definitely not for me.

Nick2019-01-14 10:37

The best pulp horror novel of all-time. It is gleefully horrific and moves from one brutal shock to another with no regard for the readers gag reflex or sanity. Little seems to care little for characterization or anything else of literary merit that can slow down a narrative of pure carnage. Pure brilliance.

Lee2019-01-11 14:55

I don't give spoilers in my reviews, so if you haven't read this early novel of Little, you need to try it. When the local college turns evil (meaning the campus and buildings) and most of the students/faculty start acting out their inner pesonalities...campus life turns morbid...vicious and deadly. With that, it's a good gory horror tale.

Rochelle2019-01-12 17:49

This was one I couldn't even finish. It is the only book I've ever thrown into the trash.

Kurt Reichenbaugh2018-12-27 17:44

Very graphic and wild. Good kick-ass style horror.

Anselie2019-01-08 17:35

The first real horror I read as a teen... Freaky stuff.

Shockwave2018-12-31 15:26

Very Bizarre book, but very interesting.

Angela Kalnins2018-12-24 17:42

UNIVERSITYBy Bentley LittleGenre: HorrorWOW!Bentley Little’s story, University, is one heck of a ride. Let me tell you what I liked about this book:• It DEFINITELY has the spooky/creepy/scary vibe going!• The main characters were 3-D-ish. In other words, they were relatable, empathy-worthy and real. ISH. I liked them all. However, some of the responses to stimuli were, for me, a little odd. But, just a little.• The action hit quick and stayed amped-up through the whole book. Very few lagging or slow-paced scenes. I personally like that; I’m not a fan of roller coaster rides, especially in my fiction world. A quick breather now and again is okay... But, I don’t want the action to be delayed or stopped for a romantic interlude or deep thoughts moment. I want to keep that excitement going. Maybe that’s just me.• Bentley Little has always been a favorite of mine. His horror stories are wild and out-there and totally NOT like anyone else’s. Now, let me tell you what I didn’t like about this book.• As state above, I love “out-there” story-lines. This one is just a little too OUT-THERE. Just a smidge. The basis for the whole story is this: The state University is alive! It has become a living, breathing, moving, sentient BEING, capable of acting in its own self-interest; and it’s capable of causing all kinds of mayhem. You see, not only have the buildings, and the land surrounding the campus all come to life like some freakish cartoon, it’s an EVIL freakish cartoon. The University, as it so happens, can cause the humans on campus to do evil and self-harming things. Violent murders, rapes, beatings, suicides and more…• SOME of the violence depicted is a little too gory and just a tiny bit hyperbolized and maybe even unnecessary. Again, that may just be me, however.• There is no real reason given for this series of unfortunate events. This University is alive. So is one in Arizona and Texas and so on and so on. It’s catching! But, author, Little never really explains why. It just is what it is.Over-all, this is an entertaining and fun horror story. I read the whole thing in one late night binge. It kept me up for another hour, maybe, thinking about it. “What ifs” and “I wonders” abounded. I would recommend this book, UNIVERSITY, to any devoted fan of horror.

Joshua Wiles2019-01-10 10:31

A horror masterpieceBentley Little has this amazing ability to take simple, ordinary, everyday things and turn them into horrifying things that we would never want to experience. This novel is impossible to put down from the very beginning. The story concerns a college, UC Brea, where bizarre things begin to happen from an increased number of rapes and murders to things decidedly more supernatural. And yet, Little presents it in a way that while utterly terrifying, seem realistic and possible. It's one of the things I admire most about the author. He fleshes out the characters and makes you care about them and their fates. He makes your heart race the closer you get to the end, eager to know how the evil is stopped, who will survive. And even when you finish reading the effects of the novel linger long after. If you want to read something that is original and different from what the horror genre typically pumps out, this book is for you.

Mort2018-12-22 15:37

4.5 STARSUntil I discovered Bentley Little, Stephen King used to be my be-all-and-end-all when it came to horror. This guy can write, which is why the very Stephen King dubbed him ‘The Horror Poet-Laureate’. What I discovered with Little is that he does not hold back. Gone were the days when I thought in terms of ‘limits’ to what can happen to the main characters in a story.This is a writer you have to try when you want to push the boundaries of your imagination. Be warned, if you want to have the cockles of your heart warmed, you are heading down the wrong path.

Janet Surrusco2019-01-10 16:26

Story was good but got overly gross. Too graphic sexual violence, particularly the day care. I think the story would have been better without so much of the shocking gross stuff.

Chris2019-01-09 10:44

I'm no prude. Not in the least. In fact, one of the things I like about Bentley Little's novels is his ability to turn the mundane creepy and that creepiness generally involves something vaguely inappropriate, something that seems uncharacteristic in the characters and their situations. The University doesn't necessarily deviate from Little's formula. Instead of a store, a house or a homeowner's association, we're dealing with a mundane-turned-evil university. Fun, right? It would be if there wasn't some sort of rape or sexual abuse on every other page. I don't condone rape but I understand that it's a very real thing that has been used as a device in horror and mainstream fiction. But there's "use as a device" and "tragic, abusive obsession." Nearly every female character in the novel is forcibly raped or sexually tormented in some way, shape or form. Random people who have zero impact on the plot are raped. It seems like rape is really the only horror that Little can imagine taking place on this horror-filled campus.The best horror to me takes real-life situations and makes them scary. But rape is scary enough without being used as a major plot-point of each chapter. It's real horror that too many have lived through. And was something that really bothered me about this novel.

Dani2019-01-17 13:29

A bit too twisted for me

Joshua Buhs2019-01-16 15:31

Not a pleasant read. Don't think it was supposed to be, but still: not a pleasant read.This is the third of Bentley Little's novels I've read. Prior to this one, I would have said he stood in the tradition of Robert Bloch, with a dark sense of humor and a penchant for big themes. One of the other books I've read, The Burning, was brave--if not believable--in its use of the ghost train, wrecking the usual ground rules for plausibility. (The other, The Town, worked on a slightly smaller scale). After reading The University, I still see him in the tradition of Bloch--there's a sense of humor here, just buried very deep--but this novel is much more horrific--graphic and disturbing--than the others.This was a grand guignol.The setting is fictional U.C. Brea, near Orange County, California. The cast is large--sometimes unwieldy, in the sense that Little is still introducing characters 4/5ths of the way through, and it is never quite clear who will be an important one. The other way to say this is, there are lots of small vignettes illustrating the evil that has gripped Brea.Some of these images, I will never forget. Even though I really want to.In the end, there are four key characters, maybe five, depending upon how you count. Little puts them through their paces, and them some. He also takes the time to comment on the conventions of horror writing. (One of the characters is an English professor who specializes in horror literature.) And this came out before "Scream." Admittedly, though, some of his musings--and the comments that cause the professor to compliment the others--are obvious.I am not quite sure why Little hasn't received more attention than he has. From what I've read so far, he is a better stylist than either King or Koontz--an admittedly low bar, and he is not a great stylist. Much of the prose is prosaic, and there are more than a few clunky bits. (This book was also marred by frequent typographical errors.) He forgets some parts of the story, and others are contradictory, but still a better read than either late King or any Koontz I've read. Perhaps it is the characterization; the characters in The University are thin, but that may be more because of the type of story he is writing: Little wants to shock, and that he does.Indeed, that is why it has taken me so long to read this book. I started reading this shortly after two Jack Ketchum books, and the beginning of this jumped right into the whole woman-in-a-refrigerator thing. It seemed to easy, and so I set the book aside. I'm still a little cross-eyed about the amount of violence against women and minorities and the disabled in the novel. I think Little was trying to make a political statement about the dangers of conservative republicans, but this is hard to tell for two reasons: first, the guy who comes to embody the evil (which is otherwise diffuse) is a blank slate. We just know he is evil. Second, Little delights so much in the carnage that it is hard to see it as a critique (if indeed it was meant to be). Mostly, though I think that he just wanted to write a book with lots of violence. And he succeeded.On a different scale, and what perhaps kept me going more than anything else, he evokes a college campus, especially in the 1990s, very well. I was there--at several, actually--and I instantly recognized the places and mores he was describing. Sure, he telescoped some things, it would be unlikely that the professors on a campus of 25,000 students would know each other (and the students) so well, and the academic politics were altered for dramatic effect. But, still, this was college life I could recognize.That probably also made the book more disturbing.

Kim Smiley2018-12-27 12:26

All I can say is....wow. First I'll say who SHOULDN'T read this book: If you cannot handle graphic violence, such as torture, rape and animal cruelty, do not read this book.Ok, now that I've gotten that out of the way, this book wasn't that bad, concept-wise. Jim is going to Brea College. This is his last semester before graduation, and even before he leaves for college, he has a bad feeling about it. And he's right. The college is possessed. It's evil is rippling throughout the campus. The students are extremely violent. Rapes, suicides, murders and violence in general are at an all time high. Between Jim, Faith, and a couple of college professors who figure out what is going on, can they stop it, or is the university too big and too evil to beat? I liked the book, but geez, it is very graphic, especially with sexual violence and torture of not only people, but animals as well as one chapter that included a child. I could do without all that, but the book did have a good storyline. Most of Bentley Little's books are kind of graphic, so I guess I shouldn't have expected any less. And I thought "Dominion" was bad!

Craig2018-12-23 16:50

This could have been so good. I mean, the idea of a living, evil University? Genius. Having worked in education for almost 20 years, there is nothing more horrific than a college campus. BUT there is HORROR, and then there's fetish fiction. Little's stories often feature very few genuine scares, but lots of panties: panty sniffing, panty cutting, panty (and pubic hair) ripping, panty theft, no panties, men wearing women's panties, ad nauseum. Oh, and rape. Lots and lots of rape. Are we that collectively afraid of rape? I mean, the Big Bads are always secondary to lack of sexual control. What I'm truly scared of is Little's obsession with sexual submission at any cost. He's way scarier than anything he could put in any of his books.

Kayla2018-12-27 11:29

This book was different. It is the first Bentley Little book I have read and I must say I am interested in reading his others. I won't tell much of what happens, but in my opinion the fact that he doesn't shy away from some of the more explicit details is something to appreciate. I love the element of sex that he puts in it even though it is probably pretty intense for the faint of heart. I won't say it is his best or talk about his style, because as stated this is my first time reading him and I am not familiar enough with his works. With that said I would recommend this book as something to occupy your time with. It isn't a slow or hard read so definitely something to try.

Sarah Underhill2018-12-27 11:33

This is another one of my favirotes by Bentley. I really liked the ending, I also like how Bentley points out so often how "real life isn't like books and movies" and manages to avoid "happy sappy endings" and keep his books true to real life (well minus all the crazy supernatural stuff that happens!) This is definitely a great read, I found this one to be more frightening than a lot of his others because it is based more closely on reality; increasing violence especially amoung youth, but the supernatural elements are what make me love his books.

Debra2018-12-22 17:28

Stephen King recommended author. He says: "BEST OUTRIGHT HORROR NOVELIST. Bentley Little, in a walk. Don't know Bentley Little? You're not alone. He's probably the genre's best-kept secret, but at least 10 of his novels are available in paperback; you can pick up three for the price of that flashy new hardcover you've got your eye on. The best thing about Little is that he can go from zero to surreal in 6.0 seconds. My favorites are The Store (think Wal-Mart run by SAYYY-tan) and Dispatch, in which a young fellow discovers that his letters to the editor actually get things done. Bad things."

NumberLord2019-01-08 10:41

This early excerpt from the novel tells you the general story:"Time is running out, and we need to work fast.""Work fast at what?""We have to kill the university." Gifford's blue eyes stared unflinchingly into his own. "Before it kills us."Bentley Little presents a tale of a University (actually several universities) which turn evil and then turn the students evil (or is it vice versa?). If you like horror fantasy, you'll probably like this book.

Jocelyn Chisholm2019-01-14 11:27

This book has all elements for horror. It rattled and shocked me, which is becoming increasingly difficult for me to experience. I have decided that when it comes to Bentley Little, I need to allow an adequate time period to pass in between reading of his novels. But I will admit that the characters are shallow. It took me some time to warm up to them. Overall it was definitely worth reading.

Rose2019-01-09 09:55

I feel like I need a shower after reading this book. It was so disturbing. I think it had such potential but the explicit and horrible sex, rape, child molestation and torture scenes were uncalled for and even made me cry. I don't know why the hell I even finished this book. Won't be rereading.

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About the author

Bentley Little - Bentley Little is an American author of numerous horror novels. He was discovered by Dean Koontz.Little was born one month after his mother attended the world premiere of Psycho. He published his first novel, The Revelation, with St. Martin's Press in 1990. After reading it, Stephen King became a vocal fan of Little's work, and Little won the Bram Stoker Award for "Best First Novel" in 1990. He moved to New American Library for his next two novels, but was dropped from the company after he refused to write a police procedural as his next novel. He eventually returned to New American Library, with whom he continues to publish his novels.Little has stated on several occasions that he considers himself a horror novelist, and that he writes in the horror genre, not the "suspense" or "dark fantasy" genres. He is an unabashed supporter of horror fiction and has been described as a disciple of Stephen King.

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